Who Discovered Uranus (and How Do You Pronounce It)? Who Discovered Uranus (and How Do You Pronounce It)? By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | November 30, 2012 12:14pm ET MORE Did you ever meet a person and wonder what their parents were thinking when they picked out their child's name? Many people may do the same when they are required to give a presentation on the seventh planet in the solar system. But just how do you pronounce the name of the smallest gas giant ? How did Uranus get its name? The first six planets in the solar system have been visible to observers throughout human history and were named for Roman gods. But because it orbits so far from the sun , Uranus was not visible with the naked eye. Astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. Credit: Smithsonian Institution Sir William Herschel found the seventh planet on March 13, 1781, while scouring the night sky for comets; he initially thought he'd discovered another icy body.

When it came time to propose a moniker, he suggested naming it for his patron, King George III, which would have made it Georgium Sidus, or George's Star. But the name was not widely appreciated outside of England. "Herschel," after its discoverer, was also suggested, as was "Neptune." Ultimately, German astronomer Johann Elert Bode named the planet after an ancient Greek god of the sky. Bode argued that as Saturn was the father of Jupiter, the new planet should be named for the father of Saturn. (Uranus is also the only planet to be named after a Greek god rather than a Roman one.) Bode's colleague, Martin Klaproth, supported his choice and named his newly discovered element "uranium." Can you pronounce Uranus (without snickering)? Most people are taught that the name of the tilted planet sounds like "your-anus," a pronunciation sure to elicit snickers. It seems particularly humorous when you discuss the methane composition of Uranus , or you want to talk about how hot Uranus is . (You know you smiled a little.) According to NASA, most scientists say YOOR-un-us.

Unfortunately, because it is so rarely heard outside the walls of academia, it almost seems to call even more attention to the avoided pronunciation. — Nola Taylor Redd, SPACE.com Contributor Related: Uranus Facts: Interesting Facts about Planet Uranus • The Planets Interactive Solar System Model Uranus Facts Uranus, named after the the father of the Roman god Saturn, is the seventh planet in the Solar System and third of the gas giants . It is the third largest planet by diameter, yet fourth most massive. Size of Uranus compared with the Earth Side by side comparison of the size of Uranus vs Earth Facts about Uranus William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781. The planet is too dim to have been seen by ancient civilizations. Herschel himself believed that Uranus was a comet at first, but several years later it was confirmed as a planet – making Uranus the first planet discovered in modern history. The original name proposed by Herschel was “Georgian Sidus” after King George III but the scientific community didn’t take to it. Instead, Uranus was proposed and accepted by astronomer Johann Bode and it comes from ancient Greek god Ouranos.

Uranus rotates on its axis once every 17 hours and 14 minutes. Like Venus, it turns in a retrograde direction which is opposite to the direction Earth and the other six planets turn. It takes Uranus 84 Earth days to orbit the Sun. Its axis is at 98 degrees, which means it almost lies sideways as it orbits the Sun. This means that the north and south poles of Uranus lie near where the equator is on Earth. During parts of its orbit one or other of the poles directly face the Sun which means the planet gets around 42 years of direct sunlight followed by 42 years of darkness. A collision may have caused the unusual tilt of Uranus. The theory is that an Earth-sized planet may have collided with Uranus which forced its axis to drastically shift. Uranus wind speeds can reach up to 900 km per hour. This is roughly 560 miles per hour. The mass of Uranus is about 14.5 times the mass of Earth, making it the lightest of the four gas giants of the outer solar system. Uranus is often referred to as the “ice giant”.

While it has a hydrogen and helium upper layer like the other gas giants, Uranus also has an icy mantle which surrounds its rock and iron core. The upper atmosphere of water, ammonia and methane ice crystals gives Uranus its distinctive pale blue color. Uranus is the second least dense planet in the solar system, after Saturn. The Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have flown by Uranus. This happened in 1986 and it flew past the planet at a distance of around 81,500 km. This mission returned the very first close-up images of the planet, its ring system and its orbiting moons. Uranus has 13 presently known rings. All except two Uranian are extremely narrow – they are usually a few kilometres wide. It is believed that the rings are probably quite young. The matter within the rings is thought to be parts of a moon or moons that were shattered by high speed impacts with an object such as a comet or asteroid The chemical element Uranium, discovered in 1789, was named after the newly discovered planet Uranus. Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system.

The minimum surface temperature on Uranus is -224°C – making it the coldest of the eight planets. Its upper atmosphere is covered with a haze made mostly of methane which hides the storms taking place in its cloud decks. The Uranian moons are named for characters created by Alexander Pope and William Shakespeare. For example, Oberan, Titania and Miranda. All these worlds are frozen with dark surfaces and some are a mixture of ice and rock. Of the Uranian moons, the most interesting is Miranda which has ice canyons, terraces and many strange looking surface area. More information and facts about Uranus Uranus has the distinction of being the first planet discovered in modern history. Actually, its discovery as a planet almost did not happen. In 1781, the astronomer William Herschel was charting the stars found in the Gemini constellation when he observed a disk-like object. His initial conclusion was that he had discovered a comet and reported his findings as such to the Royal Society of England. However, Herschel was puzzled when he calculated the object’s orbit. Instead of the more elliptical path occurring with comets, he found that it was much more circular.

This observation, which was confirmed by other astronomers at the time, led Herschel to conclude that he had, in fact, discovered a new planet. Shortly thereafter, it was widely accepted that Herschel had discovered an unknown planet. As a result of his discovery, Herschel was given the privilege of naming the new planet. The name he chose was Georgium Sidus, which is latin for Georgian Planet. He opted for this name to honor then king of England, George III. This name, however, was not widely accepted, and as a result others began to suggest names. The name Uranus was put forth in the tradition of naming planets after deities in Roman mythology. Over time the scientific community accepted this as the planet’s name. At present, the only planetary mission to visit Uranus is Voyager 2. This lone encounter, which occurred in 1986, provided a large amount of data and discoveries. The spacecraft took thousands of pictures of Uranus and its moons and rings. Although the images of the planet showed little other than the uniform blue-green color seen from Earth-based telescopes, other images revealed the presence of ten previously unknown moons and two new rings. At this time, no future missions are scheduled for Uranus.

Atmosphere Due to its stark blue appearance, the Uranian atmospheric patterns have been much more difficult to observe than, say, those of Jupiter or even Saturn. Fortunately, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided much more insight into the structural nature of Uranus’ atmosphere. Through more advanced imaging technologies than Earth-based telescopes or Voyager 2, Hubble has shown that there are latitudinal bands much like those found on the other gas giants. Additionally, the winds associated with these bands can blow in excess of 576 km/hr. The reason behind the monotonous atmospheric appearance is the composition of the top-most layer of the atmosphere. The visible cloud layers are composed primarily of methane, which absorbs those visible wavelengths corresponding to the color red. Thus, the reflected wavelengths are those of blue and green. Beneath this outer methane layer, the atmosphere is composed of roughly 83% hydrogen (H2) and 15% helium with trace amounts of methane and acetylene. This composition is similar to that of the other gas giants. Uranus’ atmosphere is drastically different in another regard, though. Whereas Jupiter and Saturn’s atmospheres are primarily gaseous, Uranus’ contains much more ice.

This indicates that the Uranian atmosphere is extremely cold. In fact, at approximately -224° C, its atmosphere is the coldest found in the Solar System. What is even more interesting is data indicates that this extreme temperature is constant globally, occurring even on the side that is not sunlit. Interior Uranus’ interior is thought to consist of two layers: a core and mantle. Current models suggest that the core is primarily composed of rock and ice and is approximately .55 times the mass of the Earth. The planet’s mantle is believed to be 8.01 x 1024 kg, or about 13.4 times the mass of the Earth. Furthermore, the mantle is composed of water, ammonia and other volatile elements. What distinguishes Uranus’ mantle from those of Jupiter and Saturn is that it is icy, though not in the traditional sense. Instead, the ice is very hot and thick. The mantle is 5,111 km thick. What is most surprising about Uranus’ interior and one of the most distinguishing features with respect to the other gas giants is that it does not emit more energy than it receives from the Sun .

Considering that even Neptune , which is very similar in size to Uranus, produces approximately 2.6 times the amount of heat that it receives from the Sun, scientists are very intrigued by the low heat that Uranus generates. There are two popular theories for this phenomenon. The first says that Uranus was struck by a large body, dispersing into space most of the heat that planets normally retain from their formations. The second theory claims that there is some barrier preventing the internal heat from making its way to the planet’s surface. Orbit & Rotation When Uranus was discovered it expanded the radius of the known Solar System by almost a factor of two. What this means is that, on average, Uranus’ orbit is about 2.87 x 109 km. The consequence of such an enormous distance is that it takes sunlight around two hours and forty minutes to reach Uranus&#8212that is almost twenty times as long as it takes sunlight to reach the Earth! This huge distance also means that a year on Uranus lasts almost 84 Earth years!

At 0.0473, Uranus’ orbital eccentricity is just slightly less than that of Jupiter’s .0484, making it the fourth most circular orbit of all the planets. The result of Uranus’ fairly small orbital eccentricity is that the difference between its perihelion of 2.74 x 109 km and aphelion of 3.01 x 109 km is just 2.71 x 108 km. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Uranus is how odd its rotation is compared to all of the other planets’. The axis of rotation for every planet other than Uranus is roughly perpendicular with their orbital plane. However, Uranus’ axis is tilted almost 98°, which effectively means that Uranus rotates on its side. The result of this is that Uranus’ north pole points at the Sun for half of its year, while the south pole points at the Sun the other half of its year! In other words, it is daytime on one Uranian hemispheres, while it is night time on the other for 42 Earth years at a time.

Furthermore, due to this extreme rotation, Uranus does not have days like on other planets&#8212that is, the Sun doesn’t rise and set like on other planets. The cause for this highly unusual axial tilt is theorized to be the effect of a large body striking Uranus with such force that it essentially knocked the planet over on its side. Rings Although Saturn’s rings have been well known for some time, it wasn’t until 1977 that the planetary rings surrounding Uranus were discovered. The reason behind this is twofold: their distance from the Earth and their low reflectivity of light. Nonetheless, the Voyager 2 spacecraft identified two more on its fly-by mission in 1986, followed by the Hubble Space Telescope discovery of two additional rings in 2005. The total number of known rings currently sits at thirteen, the largest and brightest of which is the epsilon ring. Uranus’ rings differ from those found around Saturn in both the size of its particles and the particles’ composition. First, the particles making up Saturn’s rings are small, with few larger than several meters in diameter, whereas Uranus’ rings contain many bodies up to twenty meters in diameter.

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Temperature: – 323 °F (- 197 °C) Mass: 8.7E25 kg Sun: 2,871,000,000 km from the Sun Position: 7th planet in our solar system Discovery: William Herschel in 1781 Atmosphere Composition: 83% hydrogen, 15% helium Rings: 13 Uranus Is the First Planet Discovered in the Modern Era Uranus Is Named after the Greek God Ouranus Uranus facts reveal that it is the only planet in our solar system named after a Greek god, although its initial name was different. When the planet was discovered in March 1781 by the German-British astronomer William Herschel, he named it Georgium Sidus (George’s Star) in honor of his patron King George III, the then monarch of Great Britain and Ireland. But the name was not accepted internationally and soon other proposals for a name were given. Eventually, the proposal of German astronomer Johann Elert Bode to name the new planet after the old Greek god of the sky was accepted, using the Latinized version of the deity’s name.

Uranus Needs 84 Earth Years to Orbit the Sun This means that one Uranus year is equivalent to 84 Earth years, or approximately 30,687 Earth days. But days on Uranus are not the same as on Earth – it takes Uranus 42,718 of its days to orbit the Sun since the days on Uranus are approximately 6 hours and 46 minutes shorter than days on Earth. Now, who can calculate their age is Uranian years? Uranus Is 63 Times Bigger and 15 Times Heavier than Earth Its surface is also 16 times bigger than the Earth’s and its radius is four times bigger than the Earth’s.

To get a better grasp of its massive size, let us take a look at the numbers: radius approximately 25,500 km, surface area approximately 8,000,000,000 km2, volume approximately 68,000,000,000,000 km3 and mass approximately 87,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg. Uranus Is the Coldest Planet in the Solar System Uranus facts reveal that its climate is not very friendly. It is fairly calm, but very low temperatures, intense seasonal variations, limited atmospheric activity and violently strong winds make it very harsh by the standards of the Earth’s weather. Its conditions mean that Uranus is definitely not a top choice for the future expansion of the human race through space… Uranus Is Very Different from Earth In addition to all the differences in time measurement, and size and climate of Uranus and Earth, there are several other Uranus facts that reveal important differences between the two planets.

Earth is a much denser planet, with Uranus reaching only about 23% of Earth’s density. Gravity on Uranus is also lower, reaching approximately 90% of Earth’s, and Uranus gets much less solar radiation energy than Earth – almost 400 times less. Titania Is the Largest Moon of Uranus Of the 27 moons around Uranus, 5 are considered to be major moons and Titania is the biggest of them all. Its radius is approximately 788 km (about one eighth of Earth’s) and its gravity is almost 30 times less than Earth’s. Titania got its name from William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and was named after the queen of the fairies. The moon was discovered by the same man who discovered Uranus a few years earlier – William Herschel. It is the 8th largest moon in our solar system.

Uranus is Composed of Rocks, Water, Hydrogen, Helium, Ammonia and Methane Uranus facts teach us that this planet’s structure has three layers: the rocky core of silicate and iron-nickel; the mantle, which contains water, ammonia and methane; and the atmosphere which is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium. Most of Uranus’ mass comes from water, ammonia and methane, followed by rocks in the core and the helium and hydrogen in the atmosphere. Uranus Is Years Away from Earth The constant motion of planets in the solar system means any distances between planets are always changing, but when Uranus is closest to Earth, the distance between them is 2.6 billion kilometers At its furthest, the distance is 3.2 billion kilometers. That means that light from the Earth can reach Uranus in slightly less than 2 and a half hours when the planets are nearest. But getting a spacecraft from Earth to Uranus would of course take much longer since we cannot travel with the speed of light – the journey would take nearly 10 years.

Only One Probe has Explored Uranus so Far Considering the vast distance between our planet and Uranus, it is no big surprise that only once spacecraft has approached Uranus in the history of mankind. In 1986, the space probe Voyager 2 flew by Uranus at a distance of approximately 81,500 kilometers, providing us with the majority of data we have on Uranus to this very day. No other spacecraft has visited Uranus since then, and no future missions to Uranus are confirmed at the moment, but quite a few have been proposed to occur in the next decade. A joint NASA and ESA mission to Uranus – Uranus Pathfinder – is proposed to be launched from Earth in 2022, and Johns Hopkins University proposed another mission that would launch in 2021 and reach Uranus 17 years later – the Herschel Orbital Reconnaissance of the Uranian System (HORUS). Uranus May Serve as a Mining Site for Helium-3 in the Future Helium-3 is a non-radioactive isotope of helium that is useful for nuclear fusion and the technologies connected with it (mostly energy and weapon production).

Unfortunately, it is very rare on Earth, so it is possible that the human race will mine the isotope on other planets someday. All gas giants in our solar system are much richer with the isotope than Earth is, and Uranus has the lowest escape velocity of them all. This leads some scientists to predict that Uranus might be our first choice for mining when we finally develop the technology that would make this possible. All 27 of Uranus’ Moons are Named for Characters from the Works of Shakespeare and Pope Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Ariel, Miranda, Puck, Perdita, Cupid, Mab, Margaret and others are all named after William Shakespeare’s and Alexander Pope’s characters. One of the moons, Ophelia, was named after a character in one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Hamlet. The names for the first moons discovered were chosen by the son of the man who discovered Uranus and its first moons, John Herschel, 30 years after his father had died. Uranus Is One of the Few Objects in Our Solar System with a Retrograde Rotation The retrograde rotation of objects in a solar system is defined as opposite to the rotation of the central object – the Sun.

Most of the solar system’s planets, its satellites and other objects rotate in a prograde direction; Uranus and Venus are the only planets in our solar system which have a retrograde rotation. We Do Not Know Exactly What the 13 Uranus Rings Are Made From Uranus facts reveal that these rings are very dark and faint, which is also the reason that the first of them were only discovered in the late 20th century. Scientists do not currently know what matter these rings consist of, but they presume it is mostly water and ice in combination with an unknown dark radiation-created organic matter. There are currently known to be 13 rings in total, but these were discovered at different times. The Poles of Uranus Get 42 Years of Constant Sunlight and 42 Years of Constant Darkness One of the previous Uranus facts already revealed that Uranus needs 84 years to orbit the Sun, and due to its large axis tilt (98 degrees) it lies almost sideways when travelling around the Sun. This causes its poles to lie where the equator lies on Earth. This also means that one pole is directly exposed to sunlight for half of the planet’s orbital time, and the other lies in complete darkness during that period.

The Winds of Uranus Can Reach Speeds Up to 560 mph For comparison: the winds on Earth can reach speeds up to 250 mph outside tornadoes, and up to around 300 mph inside tornadoes. Such winds are very extreme though, and are thankfully rare. Just as all winds on Earth are not as strong as the maximum speeds, it’s true that not all winds on Uranus reach speeds of over 500 mph. In fact, only winds between +/- 50°-60° latitude are that strong. The Chemical Element Uranium Is Named after the Planet Uranus Uranium was discovered in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, eight years after William Herschel had discovered the planet Uranus. Klaproth choose the name for his chemical element in order to honor the then newly discovered planet. Uranium has a wide range of industrial applications. One of the uses you’re probably most familiar with is its role in fueling nuclear power plants.

Uranus Is 19 Times Farther from the Sun than Earth Is This is also the reason why Uranus gets much less sunlight than the Earth does and has considerably lower temperatures than we enjoy here. The fact that the distance between the Sun and Uranus is 19 astronomical units (AU) is of course no coincidence – 1 AU is defined as the distance between the Earth and the Sun (about 93 million miles). Holy Moly, Uranus Can Be Seen without a Telescope As surprising as this may seem, Uranus can indeed be observed from Earth without using a telescope, despite being so far away. Its magnitude of 5.3 is just within the brightness scale that the human eye can perceive. In order for us to actually see Uranus, however, the sky needs to be extremely dark and one needs to know where exactly in the sky to look. If you do want to be sure to see Uranus, binoculars or a telescope are still a great help, of course… Uranus’ Largest Ring Is 10,500 Miles Wide Mu (μ) ring, one of the two outside rings of Uranus, is the biggest of all 13 Uranus’ rings.

This huge ring has an amazing width of 10,500 miles, or 17,000 km. To get a sense of the huge scale of the ring, we can compare it to distances we are familiar with here on Earth. Its width is greater than the distance between New York and Sydney, Australia, and more than four times the total distance between Los Angeles and New York… Uranus Is the First Planet Discovered in the Modern Era Discovered in the late 1700s, Uranus is the first of only two planets discovered in the modern era, and by using a telescope (the second is Neptune, discovered in the mid-1800s). All other five objects (excluding Earth) in our solar system that are considered to be planets were discovered long before that – by ancient Babylonian astronomers in the 2nd millennium BC. Pluto, which was discovered in 1930, was initially considered to be the 9th planet of our solar system, but was later classified as only a dwarf planet.

Uranus Facts — Facts about Planet Uranus Summary Uranus is the 7th planet in our solar system, and lies between 2.6 and 3.2 billion kilometers away from Earth. It was the first planet that was discovered in the modern era. It is 63 times bigger and 15 times heavier than Earth, and its climate, atmosphere and composition are also very different from the Earth’s, so no life (at least, not as we know it on Earth) is possible on Uranus. Uranus has been seen up-close by mankind only once – through the Voyager 2 space probe that flew by the planet in 1986, but some believe that the planet could serve as a mining base for isotope Helium-3 sometime in the distant future. Wikijunior:The Elements/Uranium - Wikibooks, open books for an open world Wikijunior:The Elements/Uranium This is the latest reviewed version , checked on 30 November 2016. (+) Quality: minimal This Wikijunior article is a stub . You can help Wikijunior by expanding it . Shows the position of Uranium on the periodic chart.

Uranium's symbol on the Periodic Table What does it look, feel, taste, or smell like?[ edit ] Uranium ore Uranium was used in the "Little Boy": the first nuclear bomb used in warfare Uranium is silvery-white and metallic. Uranium can appear to be slightly blue. How was it discovered?[ edit ] Uranium was discovered in 1798 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist. Klaproth found uranium while he was analyzing samples of pitchblende, a variety of the mineral uranite, from the Joachimsal silver mines in the Kingdom of Bohemia (now located in the present-day Czech Republic). It was discovered to be radioactive by Henri Becquerel in 1896, and until the discovery that thorium was radioactive two years later, in 1898, it was thought to be the only radioactive element. Where did its name come from?[ edit ] Uranium is named after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered some years before, in 1781, by William Herschel. Did You Know?

Uranium is the highest-numbered element, with a number of 92, to be found naturally in significant quantities on Earth. One ton of natural uranium can create over 40 million kilowatt hours of electricity. This is the same amount of energy that would be created by burning 16,000 tons of coal or the contents of 80,000 barrels of oil. Native Americans living on the Colorado Plateau used the uranium-bearing mineral carnotite to make bright yellow war paint. Where is it found?[ edit ] Uranium is found worldwide in soil and rocks. Australia has the largest known reserves. What are its uses?[ edit ] A nuclear power plant. Uranium is commonly used in nuclear reactors to make electricity, as well as in nuclear weapons. Uranium is also used to test the age of very old rocks. Uranium was used to color paints and glazes, although such use is rare today. Uranium can also be used to color glass yellow; such uranium glass, or "vaseline glass," glows green under ultraviolet light (also known as a black light.) Because it is so heavy, uranium is used in armor-piercing artillery bullets.

Is it dangerous?[ edit ] Pure uranium can burst into flames. Compounds with uranium in them are toxic. Uranium is radioactive, and can lead to cancer. Uranus: Facts About the Planet Uranus Uranus: Facts About the Planet Uranus 04, Feb 2016 | 6 mins: 5 secs + - From its planetary rings to the clear lack of exploration, we countdown the most interesting facts about… the planet Uranus. Uranus: An icy gas giant planet, is the seventh planet from the sun. Due to their similar chemical compositions, Neptune and Uranus are considered to be siblings. However, it is smaller in size than Neptune and is the third largest planet in our solar system. The planet cannot be seen with the unaided eye and it was the first planet to be discovered via a telescope by William Herschel on March 13, 1781. It’s said to be spinning like a top around the sun because of its unusual axial tilt. Furthermore, it is the only planet which is named after a figure from Greek mythology ‘Uranus’, the god of sky and deity of the heavens.

Planetary Rings: If you think only Saturn has planetary rings then you are wrong! The first nine rings of Uranus were discovered in 1977 by astronomers James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Jessica Mink by sheer luck. While William Herschel had mentioned the presence of the rings, their existence was never confirmed. The astronomers were actually studying its atmosphere when they noticed the rings. The images of the rings were obtained when Voyager 2 spacecraft passed through the Uranus system in the year of 1986. Afterwards, additional rings were also discovered along with natural satellites revolving around the planet. The sideways planet: The magnetic field is certainly odd. Instead of being centrally focused, it is lopsided. It is tilted 59° away from the planet’s spin axis of rotation. Scientists have put forward a theory that a mega collision with an Earth-like celestial body might have caused the unique tilt. Moons of Uranus: Uranus has 27 confirmed moons. Out of 27, only five moons are large in size. They are Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda. Actually, the names are inspired from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

Pop Culture: Don’t embarrass yourself in public and learn to pronounce Uranus the right way. It is pronounced as ‘yoor-a-nus’. Moving on, it is the ruling planet of Aquarius. The planet is often associated with electricity because of its cyan color. The electric blue and green hues come from the high quantity of methane in its atmosphere. The chemical element ‘uranium’, a heavy metal, is also named after the planet which was discovered by the German chemist Martin Heinrich in 1789. Voyager 2 (USA) flyby 1986. ©astronomyamazing.blogspot.com. Exploration: Sadly, Uranus has not been thoroughly explored. Till now, it has been explored only through telescopes and NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft sent in 1986. Voyager 2 managed to discover ten of its moons, observed the planet’s icy atmosphere, scanned its planetary ring system, and discovering two new additional rings! Several missions to explore the planet have been presented, but none of them have been approved yet. The Cold Climate: The climate of Uranus is very cold.

Because Pluto has been kicked out from the solar system, it has become the coldest planet in the entire solar system even though it is not the farthest from the sun. The planet suffers from extreme seasonal variation thanks to its complete lack of internal heat and axial tilt. It has bands of clouds, mighty winds and an icy surface. The temperature can go as low as 49K (−224.2°C)… that’s cold! The ‘Ice Giant’: Uranus is known as the ‘ice giant’. Like other gas giants, its upper layer has high concentration of hydrogen and helium. However, its rocky core of iron is surrounded by a mantle of ice. Scientists also think that it is hiding an ocean of water under its gassy atmosphere and icy surface. Moreover, its upper atmosphere has ice crystals, methane, ammonia and water that give the planets its famous cyan color. Shorter days, longer years: A day on Uranus is equal to 17 Earth hours. On the other hand, one year on Uranus is equal to 84 Earth years! Furthermore, it rotates in the opposite direction from Earth — it spins from the east towards west. How far is Uranus? Have you ever wanted to travel to Uranus?

Well, it will take you approximately 160 light minutes. As both Earth and Uranus orbit around the sun, the distance between them continues to change. The nearest Uranus can ever get to Earth is 2.57 billion km. So, What did you guys find interesting in this one?﻿ Updated: February 4, 2016 at 11:28 am Tags Sir William Herschel Quotes - 14 Science Quotes - Dictionary of Science Quotations and Scientist Quotes (He broke through the barriers of the heavens.) — Sir William Herschel Epitaph for William Herschel in Upton Church, where he is buried. Quoted in G. J. Whitrow, The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology (1959), 16. Also on memorial tile in Westminster Abbey. Science quotes on: | Biography | Epitaph (18) I have looked further into space than ever human being did before me. I have observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two million years to reach the earth.

[Having identified Uranus (1781), the first planet discovered since antiquity.] — Sir William Herschel Quoted in Constance Anne Lubbock, The Herschel Chronicle: the Life-story of William Herschel and his Sister, Caroline Herschel (1933), 336. Science quotes on: | Astronomy | Telescope (56) I have tried to improve telescopes and practiced continually to see with them. These instruments have play'd me so many tricks that I have at last found them out in many of their humours. — Sir William Herschel Quoted in Constance Anne Lubbock, The Herschel Chronicle: the Life-story of William Herschel and his Sister, Caroline Herschel (1933), 102. Science quotes on: | Telescope (56) It will be found that those contained in one article [class of nebulae], are so closely allied to those in the next, that there is perhaps not so much difference between them, if I may use the comparison, as there would be in an annual description of the human figure, were it given from the birth of a child till he comes to be a man in his prime.

— Sir William Herschel 'Astronomical Observations... ' Philosophical Transactions (1811), 101, 271. Science quotes on: | Nebula (15) The phenomena of nature, especially those that fall under the inspection of the astronomer, are to be viewed, not only with the usual attention to facts as they occur, but with the eye of reason and experience. — Sir William Herschel 'An Account of Three Volcanoes on the Moon', read before the Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions (1787). Reprinted in Edward Polehampton, The Gallery of Nature and Art; or, a Tour Through Creation and Science (1815), 183. Science quotes on: | Astronomy The undevout astronomer must be mad. [A favorite maxim, from Edward Young.] — Sir William Herschel As attributed in William Joseph Federer, America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations (1996), 291.

But the line is from Edward Young, The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality (1742, 1750), 'Night 9', 260: ï¿½It calls Devotion! genuine growth of night / Devotion! Daughter of Astronomy! / An undevout astronomer is mad.ï¿½ There is not perhaps another object in the heavens that presents us with such a variety of extraordinary phenomena as the planet Saturn: a magnificent globe, encompassed by a stupendous double ring: attended by seven satellites: ornamented with equatorial belts: compressed at the poles: turning upon its axis: mutually eclipsing its ring and satellites, and eclipsed by them: the most distant of the rings also turning upon its axis, and the same taking place with the farthest of the satellites: all the parts of the system of Saturn occasionally reflecting light to each other: the rings and moons illuminating the nights of the Saturnian: the globe and satellites enlightening the dark parts of the rings: and the planet and rings throwing back the sun's beams upon the moons, when they are deprived of them at the time of their conjunctions.

(1805) — Sir William Herschel Quoted in John Vose, A System of Astronomy: On the Principles of Copernicus (1827), 66-67. Science quotes on: | Saturn (8) We may also draw a very important additional conclusion from the gradual dissolution of the milky way; for the state into which the incessant action of the clustering power [presumably, gravity] has brought it at present, is a kind of chronometer that may be used to measure the time of its past and future existence; and although we do not know the rate of going of this mysterious chronometer, it is nevertheless certain, that since the breaking up of the parts of the milky way affords a proof that it cannot last for ever, it equally bears witness that its past duration cannot be admitted to the infinite. — Sir William Herschel 'Astronomical Observations... ' Philosophical Transactions (1814), 104, 284. Science quotes on: | Gravity We need not hesitate to admit that the Sun is richly stored with inhabitants.

— Sir William Herschel Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, from their commencement in 1665 to the year 1800. Vol. 17: From 1791 to 1796 (1809), 490. Quoted in Edward Polehampton and John Mason Good The Gallery of Nature and Art (1818), 58. Science quotes on: | Alien | Sun (144) We see it [the as-yet unseen, probable new planet, Neptune] as Columbus saw America from the coast of Spain. Its movements have been felt, trembling along the far-reaching line of our analysis with a certainty hardly inferior to that of ocular demonstration. — Sir William Herschel Address to the British Association, Southampton (10 Sep 1845). Quoted in Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society (1847), 16, 400. Science quotes on: | America | Tent (4) What caused me to undertake the catalog was the nebula I discovered above the southern horn of Taurus on September 12, 1758, while observing the comet of that year.

... This nebula had such a resemblance to a comet in its form and brightness that I endeavored to find others, so that astronomers would not confuse these same nebulae with comets just beginning to shine. I observed further with suitable refractors for the discovery of comets, and this is the purpose I had in mind in compiling the catalog. After me, the celebrated Herschel published a catalog of 2000 which he has observed. This unveiling the sky, made with instruments of great aperture, does not help in the perusal of the sky for faint comets. Thus my object is different from his, and I need only nebulae visible in a telescope of two feet [focal length]. Connaissance des Temps for 1800/1801. In Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1974), Vol. 9, 330. Science quotes on: | Aperture | Visibility (6) [Pechblende] einer eigenthï¿½mlichen, selbststï¿½ndigen metallischen Substanz bestehe.

Es fallen folglich auch deren bisherige Benennungen, als: Ресhblende Eisenpecherz, hinweg, welche nun durch einen neuen ausschliessend bezeichnenden Namen zu ersetzen sind. Ich habe dazu den Namen: Uranerz (Uranium) erwï¿½hlt; zu einigem Andenken, dass die chemische Ausfindung dieses neuen Metallkï¿½rpers in die Epoche der astronomischen. Entdeckung des Planeten Uranus gefallen sei. [Pitchblende] consists of a peculiar, distinct, metallic substance. Therefore its former denominations, pitch-blende, pitch-iron-ore, &c. are no longer applicable, and must be supplied by another more appropriate name.—I have chosen that of uranite, (Uranium), as a kind of memorial, that the chemical discovery of this new metal happened in the period of the astronomical discovery of the new planet Uranus. — Martin Heinrich Klaproth In original German edition, Beitrï¿½ge Zur Chemischen Kenntniss Der Mineralkï¿½rper (1797), Vol. 2, 215.

English edition, translator not named, Analytical Essays Towards Promoting the Chemical Knowledge of Mineral Substances (1801), 491. The new planet was discovered on 13 Mar 1781 by William Herschel, who originally named it Georgium Sidus (George's Star) to honour King George III. Science quotes on: | Appropriate

Question: Which chemical element is named after the planet discovered in 1781 by William Herschel?
Answer: URANIUM